Railway motor truck structure



oct. 29, 1957 o. G. SHORT 2,811,113

RAILWAY MOTOR TRUCK STRUCTURE Original Filed Oct. 19, 1951 2,811,113RAILWAY MOTOR TRUCK STRUCTURE Oliver G. Short, Granite City, SteelCastings Corporation, ration of Delaware Ill., assignor to GeneralGranite City, lll., a corpo- 4 Claims. (Cl. 10S-132.1)

This application is a continuation of an earlier applicatn lled October19, 1951, Serial No. 252,127, now abandoned.

The invention relates to railway motor trucks of the type in whichdriving motors are supported from the truck frame between the axles andare operatively connected to the wheel and axle assemblies by gearingmounted 1n housings carried on the axles but anchored to the truck frameto resist orque fotrces tending to rotate the housings about the axle.

It has been customary in such trucks to anchor the gear housings to thetransverse transoms of the truck frame -at points on the transomsintermediate the sides of the truck. The transoms are made heavier thanwould be required otherwise in order to adequately resist the torquethrusts in addition to he other loads carried by th transoms.

The main object of the present invention is to free the truck frametransverse transoms of the torque thrusts and to increase the clearancenear the transverse center line of the truck for additional equipment,such as shock absorbers controlling the action of the load-carryingbolster relative to the truck frame.

This object is attained by anchoring the motor gearing torque arm to thetruck side member at points on the latter spaced from the transversetransoms. The invention is particularly advantageous when embodied in aninside bearing four-wheel truck in which the truck side members aresupported from journal bearings positioned inwardly of the truck wheelsand the side members are of truss type with deep center portions forsupporting the truck bolster and with shallow end portions resting onthe bearings.

An additional object of the present invention is to support the torquethrust from the deepened center portions of the side members, therebyrendering it unnecessary to make the frame sections heavier because ofthe torque thrust and better avoiding moments applied to the side framein `a plane extending transversely of the truck, as would be likely toattend the anchoring of the torque arms on shallow frame members.

Another object of the present invention is to simplify the connectionbetween torque arms of the type described and the truck frame byeliminating hangers and the necessity of machining bearings for thehangers on the truck frame and on the torque arms.

These and other det-ail objects are attained by the structureillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a top view of four wheel railway motor truck.

Figure 2 is in part a side elevation and in part a longitudinal verticalsection taken on the line 2 2 of Figure l.

Figure 3 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 3 3 ofFigure l, with a portion of the drive shaft broken away.

The truck includes two assemblies of wheels 1 and axles 2 havingbearings inside the wheels for mounting the journal boxes 3. The truckframe includes side members 4 and S spring-mounted on journal boxes 3,and

States Patent IT 2,81 1,1 13 Patented Oct. 29; 1957 f. ICC

v7 respectively by bolts 16 and each motor has an individual drive shaft17 connected to a set of gears 'mounted on the more remote yaxle andenclosed in a housing 18 having' a torque arm 19 extending towardsy thebolster and beneath the adjacent transom.

Each side frame has a bracket 20 extending inwardly from and preferablyformed integrally with one -of the columns 10. The inner end of eachtorque arm 19 overlies one of the brackets 20 and is anchored to thebracket by a bolt 21, there being rubber pads 22 between the bracket andthe torque arm and between each end of the bolt and the bracket andtorque arm to yieldingly transmit the torque thrusts.

Each bracket 20 extends inwardly from the side member column a shortdistance only and is spaced substantially from the corresponding motordrive shaft 17 and avoids interference with the bolts and straps bywhich the other motor is suspended from the transom.

The above described structure attains the objects stated in theintroductory portion of the specification and provides ample clearancefor the motor suspensions, the motor drive shafts and additionalequipment, such as the shock absorbers indicated at 23 and 24.

In the event of failure of a torque arm anchor bolt 21, the arm Will belimited in its movement by the corresponding bracket 20 and theoverlying transoms 6, 7. Twisti'ng moments on the truck frame transomare eliminated and the application and removal of the gear housing toand from the truck is facilitated.

The details of the structure may be varied without departing from thespirit of the invention and the exclusive use of those modiiicationscoming within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

What is claimed is:

l. In a railway truck, wheel and axle assemblies, a truck framespring-supported thereon and including side members, motors mounted onthe truck frame, a housing journaled on each axle, gears carried by eachhousing and associ-ated with the corresponding axle, a drive shaftoperatively connecting the corresponding motor and gears, a torque armon the housing extending away from the corresponding axle lengthwise ofthe truck and adjacent to one of said side members, a bracket on theside member, said bracket and an end portion of the torque arm spacedfrom the axle being in overlapping relation and having opposedhorizontal surfaces, a rubber pad between said surfaces, and an uprightbolt passing through the rubber pad and the opposed portions of thebracket and torque arm and clamping them together, the rubber pads beingdistortable to accommodate limited vertical movement of the clamped endof the torque arm relative to the frame and to yieldingly resistoscillatory movements of the gear housing about its axle resulting fromthe action of the frame supporting spring.

2. A railway truck according to claim 1 in which the bracket on thetruck frame side member underlies the clamped end portion of the torquearm, and the truck frame includes a transom extending from side memberto side member above the end of the torque arm, whereby the bracket andtransom limit rotary movement of the torque arm irrespective of thebolt.

3. In a railway truck, wheel and axle assemblies, a

truck frame spring-mounted thereon, motors mounted on the truck frameand movable vertically therewith relative to said assemblies, gearsmounted on the assemblies, drive shafts operatively connecting themotors and gears, gear .housings with .torque arms and movablevertically with said assemblies, and brackets on the truck frame sidemembers provided with vertically yielding pads of rubberlike materialsupporting the outer ends of the torque arms, said brackets underlyingthe end portions of the torque arms, the truck frame including transomsextending from side member to side member above the ends of the torquearms, whereby the brackets and transoms positively limit rotary movementof the torque arms.

4. In a railway truck, spaced wheel and axle assemblies, a truck framemounted thereon and including upper and lower side members and uprightcolumns spaced apart lengthwise of the truck and forming a bolsterwindow, transoms extending between said side members intermediate thecolumns and said assemblies, motors supported from said transoms andeach having a driving connection including gearing to the assembly atthe opposite end of the truck, a housing for the gearing connection toeach assembly provided with a torque arm extending towards the middle ofthe truck, a bracket on the adjacent side frame extending inwardly fromthe corresponding column, and individual means anchoring the ends of thetorque aims to the corresponding brackets.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,831,714 Latshaw Nov. 10, 1931 2,023,756 Brownyer Dec. 10, 19352,084,891 Cease lune 22, 1937 2,460,211 Barrows et al. Jan. 25, 1949

